Twins down Tribe 7-3

Published 11:44 pm Saturday, April 5, 2014

CLEVELAND (AP) — Kyle Gibson limited Cleveland to one run in his season debut after Brian Dozier led off the game with a home run, leading Minnesota to a 7-3 win over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday and giving Twins manager Ron Gardenhire his 1,000th career victory.

Gibson (1-0) allowed three hits in five-plus innings as the Twins snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Indians.

Gardenhire, who has managed Minnesota since 2002, joined Tom Kelly as the only managers in Twins history to reach 1,000 wins.

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Gardenhire is the fifth active manager to hit the milestone and the 10th in major league history to get every one of the wins with the same team. The 56-year-old “Gardy” has guided the Twins to six AL Central titles.

Friday’s Game

CLEVELAND (AP) — Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning, two batters after Yan Gomes connected for a solo shot, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 7-2 home-opening win over the Minnesota Twins on Friday.

Swisher’s homer off Mike Pelfrey (0-1) allowed the Indians to cap a day of pomp and pageantry as they celebrated Progressive Field’s 20th anniversary. Before the sixth, the Indians had been shut out by Pelfrey and were in danger of disappointing a sellout crowd that stuck around following a 2-hour, 13-minute rain delay and plummeting temperatures.

Indians reliever Josh Outman (1-0) recorded two outs after coming in for Danny Salazar in the sixth and got the win.

Swisher added an RBI double and Michael Brantley hit a two-run single in Cleveland’s four-run seventh that broke it open.